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TMI Blog2011 (4) TMI 1054X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e Assistant State Public Information Officer (for brevity "ASPIO") of the office of Excise & Taxation Commissioner (respondent No. 3) and sought the following information, invoking the provisions of The Right to Information Act (hereinafter to be referred as "the Act") :- "Who are the owners/partners of M/s. Punjab Ice and General Mills, Gurudwara Road, Shahkot having VAT No. 03601023849." 2. The application was rejected by the ASPIO, by virtue of single line impugned order dated 27-5-2010 (Annexure P3). 3. Aggrieved by the order (Annexure P3), the petitioner filed the appeal/complaint dated 12-8-2010 (Annexure P4), which was dismissed as well, by the State Information Commission, Punjab (for short "SIC") (respondent No. 1), by ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nd deep access to information and to provide an effective framework for effecting the right to information, recognized under Article 19 of the Constitution of India. 9. Such thus being the position on record, now the short and significant question, though important, that arises for determination in this petition, is as to whether such information sought by the petitioner falls within the exemption clause as contemplated under Section 8(1)(d) of the Act or not? 10. Having regard to the rival contentions of learned counsel for the parties, to my mind, the indicated information sought by the petitioner does not squarely fall within the ambit of exemption clause as envisaged under Section 8 of the Act, as urged on behalf of the resp ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... any other material produced by a computer or any other device. 14. Likewise, Section 2(j) defines, "right to information" means the right to information accessible under this Act which is held by or under the control of any public authority and includes the right to - (i) inspection of work, documents, records; (ii) taking notes, extracts, or certified copies of documents or records; (iii) taking certified samples of material; and (iv) obtaining information in the form of diskettes, floppies, tapes, video cassettes or in any other electronic mode or through printouts where such information is stored in a computer or in any other device. 15. Similarly, Section 3 of the Act escalates that subject to the provisions of this Act, all ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Road, Shahkot having VAT No. 03601023849 and nothing else. To me, the information sought by the petitioner is factual in nature and cannot possibly be termed either to be the information of commercial confidence, trade secrets or intellectual property, the disclosure of which would harm the competitive position of a third party or available to a person in his fiduciary relationship and the disclosure of which has no relationship to any public activity or interest, or which would cause unwarranted invasion of the privacy of the individual as held by the SIC. Moreover, since the information sought cannot be denied to the Parliament or the State Legislature, so, the same cannot also be denied to the petitioner as well. Thus, as the information ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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